Data-Driven HR: Using Analytics to Create People-First Policies

The new world of data-driven HR is all about supporting people-first management with analytics. Gone are the days of using gut instincts and passing trends to manage a team and figure out how to justify decisions to the C-suite later. 

HR teams today have more data than ever before, and savvy leaders are learning to use analytics to improve their employee experience (EX). With data to back up staffing, retention, and promotion decisions, HR teams can make critical changes to company culture and build policies that simultaneously benefit their employees and the bottom line. 

Using data and analytics to support decision-making

Using analytics to strengthen HR strategies and better manage teams is a game changer. With the rising call for people-first management, managers are learning to focus on their EX, not just their customer experience.

Employee satisfaction is a hard thing to pin down. What makes employees happy? How can leaders keep people motivated and engaged? These questions can answered and supported with accurate employee data. 

Workforce management software is perfect for gathering essential data like time spent on projects or meetings, attendance, and industry-specific benchmarks. 

Shameless plug alert: Hubstaff Insights is our solution for sourcing real-time workplace data. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention it. We’ve worked hard to build a tool to help teams use actionable Insights to design their best day at work.

Data-informed leaders are better equipped to deal with the complexities of managing dispersed teams. Tools like Insights can help people gather, interpret, and deliver this information to the right people. Then, HR teams can decide how best to handle the data and what policies and standards work best for their team.

What does this new way of managing HR look like?

What does data-driven HR look like within an organization? 

Here are some ways analytics can improve workforce management:

• Emphasize the employee experience. Companies need to focus on the employee experience alongside the customer experience to build a successful business. Analytics make this more accessible by allowing leaders to measure and improve employee engagement using real-time data.
  
• Training and onboarding focus. Using data, employers can improve their onboarding process and focus on training to improve employee retention and satisfaction. Use industry benchmarks and historical data to improve employee onboarding and ensure this is an ongoing process.
  
• Prioritize proactive instead of reactive responses. With more data and predictive analytics, HR teams can be proactive with their policies rather than reacting to issues after they arise. With workforce analytics, managers can predict burnout and take steps to prevent it.  
  
• Take a digital-first approach. Data-driven decision-making starts with ditching pen-and-paper documentation and moving everything online. Integrating multiple systems lets HR teams utilize all available data covering employee policies and best practices.
  
• Improve productivity by learning how your team works. Data can help leaders differentiate between focused and distracted work. Then, they can use these findings to clear roadblocks and help teams be more productive. 

The future of HR

The new world of HR has a people-first mindset reinforced by reporting and analytics to improve EX. 

As technology evolves and grows, HR professionals must learn to embrace and use it to their advantage. We want to know, are you seeing any changes in how your HR team runs? How is the changing technology landscape impacting your work?